Republic of Nadezhda
History Nadezhda was founded one hundred years ago, after the mage wars plunged the region of Jotunheim into eternal winter. As the nations that rose from the ashes turned to the persecution of spellcasters, a freedman named Slava Vasilev founded the nation of Nadezhda. His hope was to create an egalitarian society, and his means of doing so would be the enslavement of all mages by the use of an ancient and terrible creation - a kill collar. The territory controlled by Slava Vasilev included foundries for the creation of Warforged, which he ordered shut down. There were still some Warforged living, including Rurik, who was appointed Marshal, the commander-in-chief of the Nadezhdan Armed Forces. Slava Vasilev took for himself the position of First Minister, the presiding officer of the Council of Ministers. When he died of natural causes, Marshal Rurik, a war hero during Nadezhda’s tumultuous beginnings, backed by the army, persuaded the Council of Ministers to make him First Minister. In this capacity as an immortal construct with his hands on all the levers of power, he became the monarch of Nadezhda in all but name. Marshal Rurik continued the policy of enslaving mages, which put him at odds with Franz Forrawyn of the Reich Nördlich, who believed that the north would only be safe if all mages were killed. He was similarly at odds with Jotunheim, whose frost giants often launched raids into his territory. When the dread son of Auril and Iborighu threatened the north, a group of adventurers including the sorcerer Abi Eodauga launched a coup against Rurik, killing him. Abi Eodauga took the master crown that controlled the kill collars, and helped his friend, the half-giant Ymir, take over Jotunheim. With the reluctant support of Franz Forrawyn, the three were able to defeat the winter demigod. Abi Eodauga of Nadezhda was left the most powerful of the three rulers of the north, a Philosopher-King and the first magocracy since the mage wars a century ago. The Kill Collars The kill collars were ancient technology originally used by mages on their slaves. They had been phased out by the time of the northern mage wars, being seen as a barbaric and unenlightened, but Slava Vasilev was one of their last victims. Vasilev managed to steal the master collar from the ruins of his former master's tower, securing his own life. He directed his men to create more of the collars, and shackle mages in his territory with them. In a remarkable show of trust, he presented his friend and loyal right hand, Rurik Tarrenforge, with the master collar. Rurik would never once abuse the power he had against Vasilev, refusing to threaten the First Minister with the power of death that he held over him. Under the rulership of Slava Vasilev and Rurik after him, the collared mages were used as slaves in prison camps. Their magic was used to fuel the powerhouse of the Nadezhdan economy, and nowhere else in the world was so much attention placed on developing magic to replace manual labor. It was during the rule of Abi Eodauga that many of the enslaved mages were deployed as soldiers. Vasilev and Rurik before him remembered the horrors of the mage wars, and sought to shackle mages and direct their powers towards the betterment of an egalitarian society. Eodauga saw things differently, for he needed the best army he could muster to contend with the Windwalker. After the Windwalker's defeat, Eodauga was reluctant to dismantle his new military force, which gave Nadezhda the edge against its neighbors as the first among nations in the Frostfell. After the fall of Abi Eodauga, Franz Forrawyn used the master collar to kill all the Nadezhdan slave mages. He wore the master collar on his invasion of the Final Empire, and it still adorns the neck of his corpse. The remaining collars, though they cannot be removed, are of no further use. The Reich has forbidden their use in any circumstances, and collects any it can find, storing them along with other cursed artifacts deep in their vaults. Some still survive in private hands, and attempts have been made to make a new master collar, though all have failed. Colony of the Reich After the fall of Abi Eodauga and the death of the slave mages, Nadezhda became a colony of the Reich. It maintains the internal structure of a Council of Ministers and a Marshal, but the Reich has forbidden the Nadezhdans from ever merging the two positions again. The Council must submit a report to the Gauletier of Nadezhda, a Hexenjäger who in truth maintains considerable power. Due to the ravages of war and the loss of their slave mages, Nadezhda has never really covered, even over fifty years. It is a poor and weary state, reliant on the Reich for support. Its people are beaten. They wish to live their lives, and have given up their resentment. The last revolutionaries were crushed decades ago, and made an example of. Composition Nadezhda is divided into sixteen provinces called Oblasts, each administrated by a governor. * Pervyy Oblast * Vtoroy Oblast * Tretiy Oblast * Chetvertyy Oblast * Pyatyy Oblast * Shestoy Oblast * Sed'moy Oblast * Vos'moy Oblast * Devyatyy Oblast * Desyatyy Oblast * Odinnadtsatyy Oblast * Dvenadtsatyy Oblast * Trinadtsatyy Oblast * Chetyrnadtsatyy Oblast * Pyatnadtsatyy Oblast * Shestnadtsatyy Oblast Government Nadezhda is divided into a series of provinces, each led by a governor. The ruling body is the Council of Ministers, a group of men who, in theory, rule as equals. Abi Eodauga held the position of First Minister (presiding officer of the council) and Marshal (commander-in-chief of the army), making him a monarch in all but name. The Ministers hold no specific titles, but maintain rotating responsibilities. In addition, Nadezhda has a system of peerage left over from the days of the mage kingdoms, although the rights of the nobility have been greatly curtailed over the years. First Ministers * Svyatoslav Vasilev * Rurik Tarrenforge (also Marshal) * Abi Eodauga (also Marshal) * Ricardas Rok * Havryil Vasylyshyn * Serik Gevorgyan Eodauga Ministry Council of Ministers * Abi Eodauga, Marshal and First Minister * Aras Ferapont: A ranger and keeper of a pack of wolves; Nadezhda’s unofficial law enforcement and secret police chief. * Adomas Horvat: An explorer and frontiersman; an excellent mapmaker and land surveyor. * Miervaldis Krizman: A duelist and scholar, distinguished for his battle prowess and academic works. * Ricardas Rok: A great warrior, with purview over military matters, once an adventurer. Later First Minister. Others * Nax Forester, Ambassador of Nadezhda * Dolom Tkerekin, General of the Nadezhdan Armed Forces * Osip Pavlovsky, Commandant of the Mage Internment Camps. Gevorgyan Ministry Council of Ministers * Deyan Andonov * Andrei Dalca * Peeter Pasternak * Marek Andrisyak Cities * Torzhestvo - new capital * Paradnost - old capital * Nakazaniye - central slave mage camp Gods As with all the countries of the north, the people of Nadezhda worship the Frostfell Pantheon. Their patron god is the winter deity, Telchur. Their representative god on the Holy Council is Telchur.Category:Countries Category:Snowball Earth Category:Frostfell